Protecting the livelihood of vulnerable residents in Klong Toey, Bangkok, Thailand

The goal of this research is to address a real-life housing problem affecting the livelihood of low-income residents in Klong Toey, Bangkok, Thailand. This project supports a low-income people-led initiative as a result of a precarious housing situation they are facing. The research seeks to address two interrelated domains of urban life; housing and livelihood. Housing and livelihood constitute fundamental human needs; the cumulative effect of the dysfunction of these aspects of human lives have greater consequences for vulnerable groups in lower and upper middle-income countries. By addressing livelihood problems and housing insecurity of low-income residents of the Klong Toey community, this research responds to structural inequalities rooted in low-income settlements, such as Klong Toey.

Bangkok has over 1.5 million people living in slums forming about 2,000 communities. Klong Toey settlement is situated on a land area owned by the Port Authority of Thailand and dates back to 1939, and has currently over 100,000 inhabitants. Despite several attempts over the years to evict the residents to allow for the expansion of the port's facilities, the population kept growing, and a strong community organisation, supported by voluntary agencies, started opposing eviction attempts since 1973. The pressure from the Port Authority has recently increased since the government decided to develop Klong Toey, as part of a master plan. The Port Authority views Klong Toey as a prime location for real estate development and as a new urban centre. The master plan was approved without public consultation with the Klong Toey community, who are facing eviction, hence the urgency of this proposal. We know from preliminary studies that uncertainties around housing and livelihood in Klong Toey are having negative impacts on low-income older people's health and well-being.

The project aims to start a positive collaborative process between low-income stakeholders, community organisations, policy-makers, and housing developers in Bangkok. It will engage with all parties to co-produce adequate and sustainable housing design options and redevelopment and relocation solutions that guarantee community cohesion and fabric, adequate housing forms, and offer opportunities for a secure and sustainable livelihood for all residents.

The project will develop housing and livelihood guidelines to guarantee the welfare and livelihood of vulnerable residents in Klong Toey, particularly older people and women. We anticipate that the co-design activities targeted at low-income participants will identify needs, create the opportunity to influence decision-makers and developers, and contribute to protecting the livelihood and the health and well-being of this vulnerable group. Additionally, other low-income countries may benefit from this project's bottom-up advocacy through its methodology to inform the architectural design of their housing, support for livelihood and how to engage with decision-makers at local level.

The project also proposes to contribute to improving governance structures in Bangkok influencing housing provision for low-income groups.

The project will build capacity and capability in architectural design research for the co-production of adequate and accessible low-income housing environments towards achieving a secure and sustainable livelihood. The project's Steering Group members whom are experienced in GCRF research in LMICs countries will guide the project development to streamline pathways to impact and maximise impact creation.

Low-income groups will be directly involved in the promotion and potential implementation of the project through participating in capacity building and dissemination activities such as workshops and seminars, and in the production of publications for the general public.

We aim to engage creatively and foster strong and meaningful relationships with our stakeholders at research programme level to ensure a wide range of actors have a voice in this partnership. The project's programme of work provides an opportunity for policy-makers, researchers and practitioners to work with other disciplines and various stakeholder groups throughout the research programme. We will engage with non-academic stakeholders in order to identify specific pathways leading to policy and practice; such as engaging and lobbying with the local government/authorities namely, the Thailand Port Authority; the National Housing Authority; the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

We have presented an initial framework for pathways to impact which are explained on the Pathways to Impact document. This is concerned with participation and collaboration, knowledge exchange, influencing policy and decision-makers, and raising the profile of design research in Architecture. We have also articulated the short- and medium-term pathways to positive impact on low-income populations towards (i) accessible housing; (ii) sustainable livelihood; and (iii) bottom-up advocacy.